In January and February, we heard from 3 experienced community organizers, who come from quite different backgrounds and use different approaches for creating change. (See posts below for details.) We learned some unique things from each one; but they had in common one strong message, which was that in order to create change, we need to take action, not just talk the talk.
Therefore, during the last meeting in our series in March, we engaged in a workshop with The Institute of Non-Violence Chicago in order to learn how Martin Luther King walked the walk. The Institute’s team of four outlined MLK’s Principles of Non-Violence and ended by listing these 6 steps toward creating change.
- Learn the facts.
- Offer education.
- Become devoted to the cause.
- Negotiate.
- Take direct action.
- Reconcile.
We are in different places on this continuum with several of our initiatives. Our goal is to take direct action on all of them.
During these last few weeks, because we know that an important way to create change is to elect candidates whose values align with ours, in addition to anti-racist programming, we focused on the local elections. On March 11th, we sponsored an Introduction to the Candidates’ evening. The candidates’ written responses to our questions as well as the recording of the meeting are posted below in Meetings & Minutes. And be sure to vote by mail or early now or on April 6th!
actionridgepr.com 